Pointed bearded knitting machine needle



May 11, 1943. RHC. AMlDON POINTED; BEARDED KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE Filed June 25. 1942 Patented May 11, 1943 POINTED BEARDED KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE Roy 0. Amidon, Reading, Fair Mills, Inc., a corpor Pa., assignor to Vanity ation of Pennsylvania Application June 25, 1942, Serial No. 448,482

3 Claims. 66-119) My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in knitting machine needles for use in those machines wherein a fabric is knit through a woven fabric so as to embed the woven fabric in the knitting. the machine of my patent issued November 15, 1938,No. 2,136,368.) The needle of the present application is especially devised to enable very fine fabrics to be produced, such as cannot be perfectly produced by the use of needles now on the market.

In knitting through fine woven cloth the needles are of necessity of greater width than the spaces between adjacent threads of the woven fabrics. It has been found that when bearded needles whose points lie in alignment with the eye ends of the throats of the needles are used, the needles sometimes pass back through the same opening in the fabric through which they have drawn a thread, thereby leaving imperfections in the finished fabric.

It is to overcome this deficiency that I have designed the present needle which constitutes the subject of the present application.

A further object is to provide a needle that will not only not pass twice into the same opening through which it has drawn a thread, but that will restore the displaced cross threads of the woven fabric to their proper positions on the fabric-penetration stroke of the needle.

Other objects will in part be obvious and in part be pointed out hereinafter.

To the attainment of the aforesaid objects and ends the invention still further resides in the novel details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts, all of which will be first fully described in the following detailed description, and then be particularly pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, in which- Fig. l is a side elevation of a single needle embodying the invention.

2 is a detail magnified View of the working end of the needle.

Fig. 3 and Fig. 4 are magnified views, showing how the needle functions.

5 is a. magnified plan view of a piece of woven fabric and a bank of needles in the position of 3. showing how the needles displace the cross threads entering and leaving the woven fabric.

6 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing a modification.

In the drawing, in which like numbers and letters of reference designate like parts in all the (See for example figures, l is the stem of the needle, one of whose ends is thickened and set rigidly into a-base l4 and whose working end is as thin as practicable.

At the working end the needle is provided with a throat 2-3 terminating with a permanently blind end 4 in which the thread I3 is intended to lie while being pulled. The inner wall 2 of the throat is formed on the stem l and the inner wall 3 of the throat is formed on the-beard 5. The beard 5 has an outwardly curved resilient portion 5 terminating in a point 1 which is designed to enter the recess II in the stem I when forced inwardly by the beard pusher of the knitting machine. Projecting beyond the throat end 4 is the pointed portion of the needle, the extreme point 8 lying to the beard side of the needle.

The edge of the pointed portion of the needlewhich lies toward the stem side is convex as at It], while the opposite edge 9 is concave.

The needle should be so designed that the point 8 lies toward the beard edge a distance suflicient to clear the bend of the loop [2, i. e., to the beard side a distance not less than the width of the throat between Walls 2 and 3 at 4, and preferably not so far over as to project. beyond the portion 6 of the beard. If desired, the

edge of the working end of the needle which lies toward the beard side of the needle may be convex as at 9* (Fig. 6) to facilitate the passing off of the loop l2. In Fig. 6 those parts which are the same as corresponding parts in Fig. 2 bear the same reference number plus the index letter a, so a repetition of the description thereof is unnecessary.

As will be seen by reference to Fig. 3, the needle, having penetrated between cross threads 0 and d, is passing down to draw thread l3 in a loop through previously formed loop l2. On the preceding penetrating up-stroke of the needle the thread 0 was displaced from right to left, also forcing over thread b. After the needle has drawn thread I3 through the woven fabric abcdef and released the loop l2 (Fig. 4) the fabric is moved a step from left to right in Fig. 4 and the needle rises. By the time needle point 8 reaches the woven fabric, the fabric will have nearly finished its step (the step being complete when point b reaches at in Fig. 4). Since point 8 is spaced from throat 2-3-4 (and consequently from thread I 3) a greater distance than the thickness of the thread (or width of the throat), it will be impossible for point 8 again to enter loop 12 or the space between threads 0 and d.

As the needle rises, point 8 passes between threads b and c, the curved edge In servin to move thread to the right and replace it at normal distance from thread d. The distances between the points a'b'c'--d-e' indicated by the broken lines in Figs. 3, 4 and 5 designate the normal spacing of the threads a, b, c, d, e.

By the use o f my improved needle, the knitting machine may be speeded up to a greater degree on fine fabrics than is possible with the use of such pointed bearded needles as have heretofore been known, where the point 8 lies in alignment, or nearly in alignment, with the throat 234 and thread 13.

This application is a refiling of my application Ser. No. 225,005, filed August 15, 1938, and allowed June 14, 1939. 7

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, it'is thought that the construction, operation and advantages of the invention will be clear to those skilled in the art to which it relates.

WhatIclaim is:

1. A pointed bearded machine knitting needle having a throat to receive the thread, the closed end of the throat lying adjacent the penetrating end of the needle, the point of the needle projecting over the beard side of the needle a distance greater than the width of the throat.

2. A pointed bearded machine knitting needle for knitting through woven fabric wherein the movement of the needle into and out of the fabric is in a direction approximately normal thereto, said needle having a straight throat and having its point end curved over toward the beard side and extending beyond the width of the throat, whereby the point of the needle will lie beyond the outer edge of the throat portion of the needle on the beard side.

3. For knitting machines wherein pointed bearded needles move longitudinally into and out of woven fabric in a direction substantially 7 normal to the plane of the fabric; a needle having a stem, a pointed end and a heard, the beard having a portion spaced from the stem to constitute a throat with a permanently closed end adjacent the pointed end of the needle, said beard having an outwardly bowed resilient portion for closing the end opposite the permanent- 1y closed end of the throat, the point of the needle being projected over the beard side of the needle a distance greater than the thickness of the beard so as to lie in a plane parallelling the direction of movement of the needle and normal to the plane containing the stem, the beard and the pointed end portion of the needle, said point being spaced from the permanently closed end of the throat or the needle for purposes described.

ROY C. AMIDON; 

